Profile of the Free State Premier:
Hon. MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae.
MaQueen Joyce Letsoha-Mathae was born in 1969 in the Boroa Location of the small town of Tweespruit, in the Eastern Free State.
She is the third in a family of five children. Letsoha-Mathae attended primary school at the Tweespruit Combined School before proceeding to further her secondary education at Thota Kgauta High School in Welkom, ultimately completing her matric at the Mariasdal Secondary School in Tweespruit.
During those years, Letsoha-Mathae cut her teeth into political activism. Her interest in the socio-political issues, emancipation, and development of Africans, and women in particular, compelled her to advance a keen interest in the national library struggle, where she earned her resilience, during those formative years.
In the relentless pursuit of a non-racial, non-sexist, united, and democratic South Africa, which championed gender equality, and the total liberation of the masses of the people, she continued her political activism throughout her youthful years to adulthood, playing a pivotal role in the struggle for freedom, and raising the political consciousness of her community to the politics of the Congress movement.
Imbued with the insistent desire to contribute towards progressive social change in South Africa, she notoriously earned the status of being an apartheid police enemy, leading to her being pursued by the apartheid law enforcement agencies, and the Special Branch of Law and Order of the apartheid era. Owing to various intimidating strategies to halt her activism, which included multiple arrests, Letsoha-Mathae eventually skipped the country to swell the ranks of the uMkhonto WeSizwe in Zambia. Upon her return from exile, she continued to suffer brutality at the hands of apartheid mercenaries, often with fatalities. Undeterred, Letsoha-Mathae sustained her consistent fight against Apartheid. Central to her cause, has always been the fight against patriarchy and the advancement of women’s empowerment.
In 1993, she became a Regional Organizer of her political organization, the African National Congress (ANC), in the Southern Free State region, further entrenching her activism and selfless nature to better the lives of the people of the Free State.
Her role as the Regional Organizer of the ANC, further intensified her involvement in the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL), ushering her to become the first Provincial Secretary of the ANC Women’s League in the Free State, in the post-apartheid era.
Letsoha-Mathae, has for a prolonged period, served as a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ANCWL, most notably, under the Presidency of Cde. Nomzamo Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
From 1999, after the second democratic National General Elections, Letsoha-Mathae served as a Member of the Provincial Legislature (MPL) in the Free State, where she became the Chairperson of the Transport Portfolio Committee and the Whip until 2004. These key legislative roles, further sharpened her administrative and governance capabilities and skills, earmarking her as one of the key female figures in the political trenches provincially and nationally.
She was later deployed to the office of the Member of Executive Council (MEC) for Social Development, to assume the responsibility of Chief of Staff. At a national level, she has been a Coordinator in the Office of the Minister for Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, where she performed her duties with exceptional diligence, enthusiasm, and foresight.
In March 2023, Letsoha-Mathae was deployed to the role of MEC for Community Safety, Roads, and Transport, where she successfully led the change management process in the department, and mobilized thousands of community members throughout the province, as beneficiaries of road infrastructure projects, officially earning her the title “Mama Action”.
Through her developmental leadership, thousands were employed in road infrastructure projects, leading to the reduction of road fatalities in the province. Furthermore, under her tutelage, cooperation within the transport sector improved significantly.
Letsoha Mathae is a member of the Free State ANC Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) and the Treasurer-General of the ANC Women’s League.
Known for her humility, deep commitment and unparalleled service to the people, Letsoha-Mathae has throughout her career, demonstrated high credence to hard work, good governance, and decisiveness.
She currently serves as the 8th Premier of the Free State, duly elected on 14 June 2024.